Liverpool 2 - 0 Sunderland
A week is a very long time in football, and Liverpool's weeks seem to be going from dire to amazing and straight back to dire. Last Wednesday, Liverpool seemed to do the impossible, beat Real Madrid at the Bernabueu. Unfortunately this was to be followed by an insipid and uninspiring performace against Middlesborough, which to all intents and purposes makes it seem as if we have chucked the title in the direction of Manchester United.
So which Liverpool team was going to turn up this week? Well first of all it must be said that this was a tweaked Liverpool team to both the one that won at Madrid and the one that lost at Middlesborough. Injuries meant that Mascherano was playing at right back and David N'Gog got handed a rare start with Torres out. Insua, also made a start after his exploits in South America in the Under 20's championship.
Liverpool knew that this was a must win game, for their confidence if for nothing else. Everything almost went pear shaped within the first five minutes as Kenwyne Jones managed to break through our defence and have a free run on goal. He really should have done better with his chance and in the end it was a comfortable save for Reina.
Things only got better for Liverpool after that early scare though. Benayoun continued his inspired form out on the right and Kuyt and N'Gog combined well up front. N'Gog seems to have an insane amount of critics considering he is only nineteen and has played maybe three full games for us. After tonight's display he should have silenced at least a few of them, he is definitely one to watch in future.
In the second half, Liverpool finally capitalised on their dominance with goals from both N'Gog and Benayoun, both of who thoroughly deserved them. It has been quite a while since I have seen Liverpool play with as much confidence as they did after that second goal went in. If they played like that week in, week out, we would have had the title wrapped up by now! But such wishes are futile and we can only concentrate on where we are now. (Although hopefully Newcastle can do us a favour tomorrow!)
So what about the rest of the team? Well apart from that early scare, Carragher, Skrtle and Reina had very little to do for the rest of the match. Mascherano played very well out of position and managed to link up very well with Benayoun when attacking. Insua is also another one to definitely look out for in the future. Gerrard and Alonso had a rather quite game by their standards and Kuyt was his usual battling self.
After all the doom and gloom on Saturday Liverpool needed to come out and perform, and perform they did. I know lots of people have already thrown in the towel, but it isn't over until the fat lady sings and at the end of this match the only singing that could be heard was that of the Kop.
YNWA.
So which Liverpool team was going to turn up this week? Well first of all it must be said that this was a tweaked Liverpool team to both the one that won at Madrid and the one that lost at Middlesborough. Injuries meant that Mascherano was playing at right back and David N'Gog got handed a rare start with Torres out. Insua, also made a start after his exploits in South America in the Under 20's championship.
Liverpool knew that this was a must win game, for their confidence if for nothing else. Everything almost went pear shaped within the first five minutes as Kenwyne Jones managed to break through our defence and have a free run on goal. He really should have done better with his chance and in the end it was a comfortable save for Reina.
Things only got better for Liverpool after that early scare though. Benayoun continued his inspired form out on the right and Kuyt and N'Gog combined well up front. N'Gog seems to have an insane amount of critics considering he is only nineteen and has played maybe three full games for us. After tonight's display he should have silenced at least a few of them, he is definitely one to watch in future.
In the second half, Liverpool finally capitalised on their dominance with goals from both N'Gog and Benayoun, both of who thoroughly deserved them. It has been quite a while since I have seen Liverpool play with as much confidence as they did after that second goal went in. If they played like that week in, week out, we would have had the title wrapped up by now! But such wishes are futile and we can only concentrate on where we are now. (Although hopefully Newcastle can do us a favour tomorrow!)
So what about the rest of the team? Well apart from that early scare, Carragher, Skrtle and Reina had very little to do for the rest of the match. Mascherano played very well out of position and managed to link up very well with Benayoun when attacking. Insua is also another one to definitely look out for in the future. Gerrard and Alonso had a rather quite game by their standards and Kuyt was his usual battling self.
After all the doom and gloom on Saturday Liverpool needed to come out and perform, and perform they did. I know lots of people have already thrown in the towel, but it isn't over until the fat lady sings and at the end of this match the only singing that could be heard was that of the Kop.
YNWA.